Polk Salad Carlos -- Halftime Analysis

"...Everybody said it was a shame,

That the Cowboys put the Niners on a chain gang,

A bunch of wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' rivals,

Lord have mercy..."

With all due respect to Tony Joe White...

Carlos Polk's blocked punt puts a smile on Bruce Read's face and helps jump start Dallas after a rugged start.  Some halftime notes:

Blame the offense.  The Niners made two big passes early, one on Terence Newman and a perfect matchup of Vernon Davis on Keith Davis.  But the D stiffened inside the ten.  The offense cant' get out of its own way.  Note:

• T.O has dropped two passes;
• the offensive linemen won't give themselves a chance to get the running game untracked.  Marc Colombo took a procedure penalty after a time out and Leonard Davis did the unpardonable, committing holding on a 1st-and-10 run.  You can't run into rhythm off 1st-and15 or 1st-and-20.
• The Cowboys blitz took fifteen minutes to find itself but now is ripping the 'Niners line to pieces.
• Cowboys are slipping.  Why is it that Dallas cannot find the proper footwear on their own field game after game?
• The 46 shows up again.  Demarcus Ware got a clean shot at Shaun Hill the first time Wade Phillips called it.  The Niners could not find Dallas best rusher and put a blocker on him.  He is getting double teamed every time he lines up opposite Joe Staley.
• We can argue about his rush repertoire but Ware has been Dallas' best coverage backer from the time he joined the team.  He proved it again when he broke up a wheel route to Frank Gore in the early 2nd quarter.
• The splint can't come off soon enough.  Romo has made some amazing throws.  His two deep balls to T.O. were beautiful.  He's also missed some open guys.  His inability to get a consistent grip is not letting Romo release the ball when he wants to. 
• The mid-season lists All-Pro lists have not given much love to Jay Ratliff but he's a clear Pro Bowl candidate.  Justin Tuck aside, who's a more disruptive NFC interior lineman?
• Is there a more unctuous play-by-play guy than Joe Buck?  He combines the worst qualities of all previous announcers.  He's got Bob Trumpy's smugness and Chris Collinsworth's tendency to make international incidents of every referee's call.  And he's the play-by-play guy!  It's a shame that Fox feels he's their best.  The announcers ranks must be pretty thin these days.